Mining (Euronext: SMI.NX - news) stocks on Wednesday celebrated the news that Barack Obama has been re-elected as President of the United States, with hopes for further stimulus Stateside boosting the price of commodities.

Despite the fact that not all votes have been counted, Obama has won re-election as the leader of the world's largest economy.

After winning the state of Ohio, Obama obtained 274 electoral college votes, four more than the 270 out of 538 needed to proclaim his victory. By 08:00 London time, he had 303 electoral votes compared to Republican challenger Mitt Romney's 206.

The news spurred a rise in dollar-denominated commodities such as gold, copper and oil this morning as the greenback eased.

Market analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets said: "As it slowly became apparent that the outcome of the US election was going Obama's way the US dollar slowly started to slide back after the strength of recent days as markets slowly adjusted to the fact that there would be continuity with respect to the economic policies of the last four years."

Sector peer Vedanta was also higher after all the key numbers headed in the right direction in the first half. Profit before tax in the six months to the end of September rose to $1,059.4m from $916.2m the year before, on revenue that rose 14% to $7,451.9m from $6,552.6m.

However, bucking the trend was Randgold Resources (Other OTC: RGORF.PK - news) after a disappointing third-quarter result. The gold miner reported the production fell back from the preceding quarter's record levels as the company suffered grid power supply problems at its Tongon mine and processed lower grades at Gounkoto.

Luxury brand Burberry gained after reporting a first-half adjusted profit before tax of £173m, up 6% year-on-year and ahead of the £167m consensus estimate. Revenue, up 8% at £883m, was already reported in the pre-close trading update last month.

Publishing group Pearson was higher on speculation that it exploring a sale of the Financial Times for over £1bn.

Engineering (Milan: ENG.MI - news) group Spirax Sarco jumped after saying that organic sales increased 6% in the four months to the end of October, ahead of the rate of growth reported in the first half.

Online gaming software company Playtech (Other OTC: PYTCF.PK - news) was in demand after delivering impressive revenue growth in the third quarter while saying that this trend has continued into the fourth quarter.

Industrial (Mexico: ST2000.MX - news) conveyor belt maker Fenner (Xetra: 864296 - news) was higher after reporting a stellar increase in profit and revenue for the year and lifted its dividend payment by 31%.

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